EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPING READINESS FOR CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AMONG FUTURE SERVICE PROFESSIONALS IN UKRAINIAN AND FOREIGN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the content of training of future specialists in the service sector at the Bachelor‘s educational level in leading foreign and Ukrainian institutions of higher education on the formation of readiness for cross-cultural communication in the process of professional training is carried out. The results of the study of educational programs for training service specialists on the formation of their readiness for intercultural communication in higher education institutions in Switzerland, Canada, Spain, France, Ireland, Germany give grounds to state that it is thorough and systematic in nature. This is evidenced by the following: 1) recognition (at the level of educational programs) of the ability to carry out professional activities in an intercultural environment as a mandatory component of the professional competence of a bachelor, whose future activities are related to tourism and hotel and restaurant business; 2) formal representation in the content of professional training, which is implemented both at the theoretical level (the presence in the curricula of special theoretical disciplines and workshops that ensure the formation of cross-cultural communication skills) and at the level of practical training; 3) mandatory acquisition of cross-cultural communication experience in the course of practical training (foreign industrial practices, internships lasting from 2 to 3 semesters). The analysis of the Ukrainian experience shows the lack of a systematic approach to cross-cultural training of future service specialists, its fragmentation and limited mainly by studying a foreign language, cultural or communicative courses, some of which are selective. So, on the one hand, the higher education system in Ukraine has a fairly extensive network of institutions that train specialists of the bachelor‘s educational level in the specialties tourism and hotel and restaurant business. On the other hand, the meaningful training of such specialists is in a state of constant innovative changes and, of course, requires further improvement, including taking into account foreign experience.